NIKITA MONASTERY
On the rising ground between the vilages of Gornjani, Banjani and Čučer the monastery of Nikita is situated. The church and a chapel dedicated to St. Jovan the Baptists were erected by the Serbian King Milutin in 1307-1308. This church is well known for its frescoes - the work of the famous painters Michailo and Eutihie, who also painted the frescoes in the church St. Clement of Ohrid. Whereas at St. Clement's ceratin monumental feeling characteristics of frescoing in earlier periods still predominates, here at St. Nicolaus, tendencies towards a general narrative quality are clearly expressed. The compositions are distinctly less elaborate but the of figures has increased. Here the artists has freed himself from the Byzantine iconographical tradition and has chosen free motifs for characterization.
"The church St. Jovan the Baptists,
in the Nikita monastery complex"
